USS Cod Submarine Memorial

Memorial Day 2026 will go down as one of the busiest days in recent history aboard Cod. No holiday slacking for our crew. We helped stage memorial events this foggy morning for the local Chapter of the Fleet Reserve Association, followed immediately by an even larger event for the Greater Cleveland Boating Association. So that meant some of the crew were setting up chairs and running sound for the programs while greeting old friends and new ones attending the events. We also hosted the second annual Cleveland Ruck for Veterans. A ruck is where veterans carry weighted backparks along a preset course while building comeradiery and strength. Meanwhile other Cod crew were busy working on prepping engines for operation later this summer and still others were busy installing repaired vent risers in our superstructure. Oh and once the tours started we were visited by the grandchildren of one of our WWII crewmen. Showing them where their granfather lived aboard the boat during her last four patrols, was a great honor. But the long day didn't end until the president tackled the job of weeding out monster-sized thistles from the flower bed outside our main gate. Now with
the day ended and my body pumped full of iburprophen, I'm passing a major BZ to the Cod's crew... shes a living ship!

All of our known WWII crew are on permanent duty with their Supreme Commander. But we are blessed to host vists from their families, like the sons and daughters of Cod cook and baker Philip William Linn. Cookie's records are incomplete but we have proof he made at least two patrols, numbers 6 and 7 ... so he and his shipmates almost were blown to bits by one of their own burning torpedoes and narrowly dodged bombing by a friendly bomber on patrol 6. On the seventh and final patrol Linn and the other cooks and bakers had to get busy and feed two submarine crews, a total of 152 mouths, for three days after Cod rescued the crew of the Dutch Submarine O-19 after it got stuck on a reef deep in enemy waters.

Father Linn had a long and fruitful life and served on several other fleet subs post war. Sadly he didn't attend our crew reunions, so our tour with his son's and daughters was our only way to connect them to dad's service. Listening to their stories about their father, we were able to decern that he was bunked on Hogan's alley. Seeing the two crew panoramic pictures taken in New Zealand, his children were quick to find dad, standing next to Cod senior cook Geroge Sacco and one or two of the officer's stewards. The family shared with us a well curated album of dad's documents, pictures and news clippings that included a few unique Cod images, including a picture of dad holding one of the two steel Cod battle emblem disks created for our first public tours on Navy Day in 1945 in Miami.

Every submariner will tell you the best smell aboard the boat is cinnamon rolls baking in the galley ovens. Now that USS Cod's ovens are operational and have proven their mettle with pizza, I just had to bake cinnamon rolls and tollhouse cookies for nothing if not the aroma today. I put my Cod apron on and got baking after I returned from the USS Cleveland commissioning ceremonies nearby.

It was a successful baking evolution but not without its challenges. The baking sheets I laid the cookies out on turned out to be an inch too long for Cod's 1940-vintage ovens! Luckily I had oval stainless steel serving platters that did fit the oven racks. My two Pillsbury cinnamon bun dough cans filled Cod's original square baking pan nicely.

The aroma of tollhouse cookies and cinnamon rolls shocked the public stepping into the crew's mess. Many asked "are you really baking?" They were excited to learn that not only was I baking but that they would be able to taste the results! A number of youngsters sat down on the mess tables and refused to move until the bakery cooled sufficiently to be served.

Crewman Tony Dalesio held court in the mess while I baked and he showed Cod's WWII color movies on our hidden screen.